Delivering Your Work In Layers

Here is something I have learned in my career that has improved my efficiency quite a lot — and that whenever possible I pass on to the designers I work with:

Do your work in layers.

Not talking about Photoshop or Sketch layers. I’m talking about fidelity layers.

Some designers like to work on a product piece by piece.

They focus on one screen or feature at a time, and dedicate full days of work trying to make that one piece look as polished and finished as possible. Before sharing it with the rest of the team, they make sure visuals are pixel perfect, elements are precisely aligned, imagery and copy are as close to final as possible, and that they actually prototype how the elements in screen will animate together.

And they never share their designs with the rest of the team until they feel extremely confident about the work.

The rest of the team is not aligned on what that particular screen should look like, from a visual perspective, and that might end up affecting their perception of the entire product idea.

The rest of the team is not aligned on how that screen will fit into the larger product structure. Their feedback will require you to go back to the drawing board or change the design quite structurally.

The rest of the team will be unable to fully agree with that one screen without understanding the rest of the flow.

Even if the team is onboard, when the designer moves on to the second screen, future decisions will largely impact the first ones. That high maintenance effort will progressively increase as new screens are designed.

In retrospective, the designer has spent a big chunk of the project timeline crafting one screen in isolation.

It doesn’t matter how important that screen is.

It doesn’t matter it’s the homepage.

That screen is always going to be part of a larger flow.

And that flow is always going to be part of a broader design system.

In 1 minute, you have a pretty good idea of what that nose will look like; illustration by Floortjes Artwork

Instead of spending two entire weeks designing the same screen and trying to turn it into a completely finished product, what if you tried to deliver your work in layers?

Or from sketching out a navigational framework (quick and dirty wireframes of what each section of your product is going to look like).

Or from picking one key user flow in your product — the most important one from a business and user perspective — and taking a quick pass at designing a sequence of screens that people will experience.

It doesn’t matter where you want to start. But do it in layers.

Share your progress every day.

Every couple of hours even.

5 minutes might be enough for people to understand where you’re heading; illustration by Floortjes Artwork

One of the biggest benefits of that approach is keeping a birds eye view on the entire product, not just a single screen.

If your stakeholders, your manager or your client wants to see where you’re at, you will never have nothing to show. There will always be enough work to look at and trigger a fruitful discussion about. There will always be time to course-correct your designs. There will always be time to adjust the project plan to fit your designs.

Trust your peers. Get used to sharing work in progress. If they are smart, they will understand you’re not sharing something unfinished because you’re incapable of finishing it; you’re doing it because you’re senior enough to understand how to better utilize your time.

Related Posts

These books have been the most impactful books in my work+life. They have helped me stay inspired, learn from the experts and motivate my best work. Use these books to examine your beliefs, attitudes, habits and skills. You’ll learn how to invest in yourself, build a remarkable career and live a fulfilling creative life. If you’re looking specifically for UX/Product… Read More ￫

The human brain is a formidable machine. Get yourself doing the same task over-and-over-and-over, and your brain will start shaping itself around that task. If you’re an interface designer, chances are you’ll build a special eye for type sizes, alignment, color tones. If you’re focused in UX, your brain will likely be stronger in skills like systematic thinking, flow definition,… Read More ￫

Finding the right person for a startup can be hard, but finding the first product designer to strengthen your product in terms of aesthetics and usability may be even harder. From the very beginning, you want someone who is capable of leading the design process. You want someone who will do everything they can to solve the problems of your… Read More ￫